On a good day:
Alarm at 6, breakfast (oatmeal and low-fat yogurt), shave, brush teeth, in the gym by 6:45, shower, change, at my desk by 8.
I like to start the work day with "lighter" stuff. Anyone who says start your day with your "most important task" is full of crap. My brain takes time to get off the ground and into the zone, so I'll try to schedule more low threshold work (UI design, documentation, etc.) for the morning and write code later in the day.
On a bad day:
Alarm at 6, reset alarm for 7, snooze, alarm at 7, skip the gym (I tell myself that I'll go after work), shower, shave, brush teeth, drive to work, grab overpriced breakfast (blueberry muffin and a flat white), at my desk by 8:45.
Start my work day by putting out a fire. This morning it was the announcement overnight that the New Zealand government is putting GST up to 15% in the latest budget.
In conclusion, there are good days and bad days. My level of discipline and self control when the alarm first goes off tends to determine how the whole morning will play out.
Small heart attack caused by alarm; death of alarm clock (they're cheap, I have several); iPod alarm 15 minutes later is too expensive to kill so I get up; brush teeth; kiss wife goodbye (VERY important to do this, and only AFTER the tooth brushing); fill canteen with water; leave the house; experience severe finger cramp during morning rush hour; buy bottle of ambrosia (Coke) at gas station near the office; find parking while experiencing further finger cramp in other hand; at my desk by 9AM; use topical lotion to ease forehead abrasions caused by facepalming too aggressively (on days I have support calls waiting for me).
By 10AM I'm fine :) What did the skeleton say when he walked into the bar? Gimme a beer and a mop.
Yep - I don't get to deep sleep until after about 6 hours. So during the night I'm a light sleeper, but those last 2 hours I might as well be dead for all I'm aware of my surroundings. If I only have one alarm, I will sleep right through it. I might wake up when it shuts itself off 90 minutes later, but there's no guarantee.
I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine.
In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now.
After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub.
Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older.
Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.
All the standard stuff, plus I read Daily Word (http://www.dailyword.com/) every day. It gives me a dose of inspiration to get off to a good start. It's been around since the 1920s and I've read it most every day since I was in elementary school. It's just great.
This thread should be: How do you find a better morning routine?
My flatmate is shifting from working freelance to 9-5 and is worried about getting to work at 9am as that's been an issue in the past. Caffeine makes him feel like carp.
I wish I had some of the structure that some people here have. Being a student means my hours will swap around every few days. Occasionally I will try and make some class but being that my main student thing to do this year is an honours thesis it's very easy to do this whenever, same goes with my freelance/ early stage startup work.
I frequently find myself less productive without a routine and continue to plan to start one. I am also horrible at major task shifting. As in give me some free weeks just to concentrate on just one focus, student or startup and I can be crazy productive. Give me both of them at the same time and I will find a way to waste half my time in limbo.
My ideal morning routine: get up, throw on yesterday's clothes, go outside, get on bike, have morning ride, come home, wake girlfriend, fix and eat breakfast, shower, dress, check email, start on work for day.
My actual morning routine: spoon with girlfriend until she gets up, fall asleep on girlfriend's side of bed, get up, stumble to desk, waste hours on internet...then I get around to the bike ride and shower in the afternoon.
This is where it's better to live with other motivated people.
When I get up there's about a 75% chance I'll be motivated to get out of bed and go downstairs and get the nuclear coffee brewing and the bacon under the grill.
The other 25% of the time someone else has (usually) been motivated instead and so I get tempted downstairs by delicious smells. Then we do 30-60 minutes on a shared project before we disperse to various workplaces.
The only trick is to make getting up more attractive than sleeping in.
The girlfriend is actually far more motivated than me, she's just learned not to wake me and I've learned how to sleep through the smell of oatmeal coming from the kitchen.
Wake up.
Snooze.
Snooze.
Snuggle w/ wife.
Snooze.
Snooze.
...
Realize what time it is.
Snooze.
Wake up again, realizing what time it is.
Race to class / internets / bathroom.
See, I've always thought that, when the alarm is going off, every button should snooze. Then, a minute later, the off button actually works. That way you can whack the thing to shut it up, and not worry about turning it off and falling back asleep (happens to me, especially when I'm tired. I turn it off instead of snoozing without even realizing it).
I've always wondered at the UI of alarm clocks. It seems like they gave up after "let's make the snooze button big!"
Now what I'd really like is a programmable alarm clock, allowing me to encode an optimal awakening algorithm. "at volume x, play song y. If snooze button is not pressed yet, double volume and play The Safety Dance."
About the only thing I've seen that could do that is a Chumby. I've never used one myself, but I believe it's effectively "fully" programmable: http://www.chumby.com/
I've been using an old mobile as an alarm clock for years. It's UI is much easier than a clock-radio (I was never able to figure those out), you can change the song and volume and it has a builtin battery. It's most well-designed not-alarm-clock alarm I've ever had.
- 6:30 am get up and go for 20 minute a run
- Make myself some breakfast
- Wake up my wife/3 daughters, and get them all breakfast
- Make school lunches x 3
- Ride to work
- Check HN / Email + Work ;)
I love weekends where I don't have to make school lunches.
Heart attack at alarm. BBC streaming radio drifts in. Grab laptop from side of bed, check everything. Stumble to shower. Glass of water and a snack. Dress. Euphoric bike ride to work. Make 1 espresso, 1 latte. Day begins.
0630 Alarm, out of bed, shave and shower, dress, etc.
Somewhere in here read all my email
0715 Sit down to breakfast with the family
Do whatever tedious house work things need to be done
such as loading the washing machine
0745 Walk to the bus stop and get on the bus
Here I'll have 30-40 minutes alone so I can read,
listen to podcasts, or write
0900 At work
7am Usually woken by our two Burmese cats asking for breakfast.
Put cat's food out.
Put coffee on.
Empty dishwasher.
Empty cat's litter tray.
Shave, shower get dressed.
Breakfast - coffee, muesli, natural yogurt and fruit.
Drink coffee, listen to Radio 4, chat to wife/kids.
Put breakfast dishes in dishwasher.
Wake up.
Brush teeth.
Check work email on iPhone.
Leave house at 8.35.
Walk to work listing to podcast or an audiobook.
Get to work at 9am.
Brush teeth. Work on learning emacs or customize emac further. Work on code if said emacs learning/customization is done. Get dressed and go to school.
Well, when it's not going efficiently, it's something like:
Wake
Email/internet
Put on a pot of coffee and some toast in the toaster
Email/internet
Eat breakfast, then get a second cup of coffee to...
Email/internet
Turn on shower so water starts heating up
Email/internet
Take shower, emerge wrapped in towel and...
Email/internet
Get dressed
Email/internet
Get together stuff I need to take
Email/internet
Leave house
With a sleep phase disorder, I don't necessarily wake up in the "morning" after my primary sleep. So sometimes I'm eating dinner within 5 minutes of getting up. Usually, though, get dressed, wash/teeth, tidy up house, make baby's bottles, computer. :-)
83 comments
[ 1913 ms ] story [ 409 ms ] threadI like to start the work day with "lighter" stuff. Anyone who says start your day with your "most important task" is full of crap. My brain takes time to get off the ground and into the zone, so I'll try to schedule more low threshold work (UI design, documentation, etc.) for the morning and write code later in the day.
On a bad day: Alarm at 6, reset alarm for 7, snooze, alarm at 7, skip the gym (I tell myself that I'll go after work), shower, shave, brush teeth, drive to work, grab overpriced breakfast (blueberry muffin and a flat white), at my desk by 8:45.
Start my work day by putting out a fire. This morning it was the announcement overnight that the New Zealand government is putting GST up to 15% in the latest budget.
In conclusion, there are good days and bad days. My level of discipline and self control when the alarm first goes off tends to determine how the whole morning will play out.
By 10AM I'm fine :) What did the skeleton say when he walked into the bar? Gimme a beer and a mop.
- Complain about how early and cold it is
- Turn on computer
- Shower/shave/brush teeth
- Get dressed
- Prepare lunch
- Breakfast/coffee while browsing
- Feed cat
- Work (/read HN)
reset alarm
wake up
start some bacon
cigarette
make some eggs, put on a kettle
eat eggs and bacon
start brewing tea
shower/shave
drink tea, browse internet, time permitting
run to catch train to school
In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now.
After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub.
Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older.
Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.
My flatmate is shifting from working freelance to 9-5 and is worried about getting to work at 9am as that's been an issue in the past. Caffeine makes him feel like carp.
I suggested Modafinil.
How do carp feel? Are they happy?
I frequently find myself less productive without a routine and continue to plan to start one. I am also horrible at major task shifting. As in give me some free weeks just to concentrate on just one focus, student or startup and I can be crazy productive. Give me both of them at the same time and I will find a way to waste half my time in limbo.
My actual morning routine: spoon with girlfriend until she gets up, fall asleep on girlfriend's side of bed, get up, stumble to desk, waste hours on internet...then I get around to the bike ride and shower in the afternoon.
When I get up there's about a 75% chance I'll be motivated to get out of bed and go downstairs and get the nuclear coffee brewing and the bacon under the grill.
The other 25% of the time someone else has (usually) been motivated instead and so I get tempted downstairs by delicious smells. Then we do 30-60 minutes on a shared project before we disperse to various workplaces.
The only trick is to make getting up more attractive than sleeping in.
Now what I'd really like is a programmable alarm clock, allowing me to encode an optimal awakening algorithm. "at volume x, play song y. If snooze button is not pressed yet, double volume and play The Safety Dance."
About the only thing I've seen that could do that is a Chumby. I've never used one myself, but I believe it's effectively "fully" programmable: http://www.chumby.com/
EDIT: Looks like the new one does. Now I want one :)
For example, "If snooze has been pressed 2 times today, on next press, double volume instead."
- 6:30 am get up and go for 20 minute a run - Make myself some breakfast - Wake up my wife/3 daughters, and get them all breakfast - Make school lunches x 3 - Ride to work - Check HN / Email + Work ;)
I love weekends where I don't have to make school lunches.
Later in the afternoon: - Shower - Get food - Beers with friends
The categories and best of on the right side are great.
7.45 feed baby
8.00 dress, brush teeth etc.
8.15 leave for bus
Try to remember what day of the week it is
Check my email from phone
Realize what time it is
Reply to chats and quick urgent stuff from cofounders through meebo iPhone app
Get out of bed and get ready for the day
Then who knows. Work, play, eat, meetings. It's different every day.
I only got 2 more days of high school though.